Additional Chess TerminologyAttacking-Play Terms[Support Point]

Support Point

You ever seen war films, where troops are staging an assault of some kind? One soldier will go to a specific point, then wait ... Then another soldier will dash beyond that first soldier, to a point a short distance further away ... And so on.

That last soldier is able to get into place because of the protection (i.e. covering fire) offered by that soldier who advanced to the first position.

And that's basically what the "Support Point" is all about - providing back-up to an advanced attack.

When it comes to Attacking Play, the best type of Support Point will often allow one of your heavy-duty pieces to sit at the head of a line of Pawns and remain there, for many turns ...

That piece will, ideally, be able to sit in its advanced post, causing the enemy all kinds of problems - from positioning; to how the heck to launch a counter-attack, without being captured by the well-supported opposition piece.